Celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month and More, Check Out These April Happenings

EXHIBITIONS

OPENING

“Mirror, Mirror: Reflections of America in Disney Parks”
Albert H. Small Documents Gallery
Third Floor, East
Opens April 28, 2023, Closes March 2024

This exhibit explores how Disney theme parks serve as locations of public memory, their relationship to stories of American history, and how the parks and the public are both adapting to new understandings of the American experience by complicating historical narratives. Our understanding of American history doesn’t just come from the classroom. The places we visit, the media we consume, and the experts we listen to all tell their own stories about history. The Walt Disney Company has been telling historical stories for decades, and as time and values have changed, Disney theme parks have changed in response. As important locations for American public memory, the narrative presented at the Disney theme parks both represents and shapes larger conversations about the American Experience. Through objects, images, maps and more, this exhibit will look at how Disney and the public are in conversation to create the national narrative of today and the future.

CLOSING

Last Chance to See:
"Discovery and Revelation"
Closes March 30, 2023
Nicholas F. and Eugenia Taubman Gallery
Second Floor, West Wing

One of the most significant factors in the development of spiritual traditions in the United States has been the interaction of religious ideas and communities with the scientific and technological advances that have shaped every generation. his exhibition will look at the intersections of religion and science from three centuries of American history, beginning with a 1721 controversy concerning smallpox and Puritan notions of divine judgement, and ending with encounters of technology and belief in the digital age. Artifacts on view will be drawn from across the museum and range from medicine and science objects related to the work of the theologian-chemist Joseph Priestley; technology collections related to Samuel Morse and his telegraph as well as objects illustrating recent research into religion and the brain. Objects on loan from other Smithsonian museums include a portrait of Henrietta Lacks and a letter written by Galileo; the National Library of Medicine is loaning 18th century pamphlets and Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod is on loan from the Franklin Institute.

PROGRAMS

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra
Jazzed About Art Jazz Appreciation Month
Baird Auditorium, National Museum of Natural History
April 1; 7 p.m.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month and to kick off the annual worldwide celebration of jazz, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra offers a soundtrack filled with rhythm, texture, and color as it showcases the work of prominent 20th–century visual artists including William Sharp, John Fenton, and Romare Bearden. "Be-Bop" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Crying and Singing" by McKinney's Cotton Pickers, and "Kingdom of Not" by Sun Ra are among the musical selections

Purchase tickets here: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/sjmo-jazzed-about-art
Members $20; Nonmembers $25

“Quartets of Mozart, Bartok & Beethoven”
Stradivarius and Amati Saturday Concert Series, Smithsonian Chamber Music Society
Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music
April 1 & 2; 7:30 p.m.

The Axelrod String Quartet will be joined by guest violinist Mark Fewer in a presentation of Mozart’s Quartet in G Major, K387; Bartók’s: Quartet No. 1, Op. 7; and Beethoven’s Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, performing on two magnificent sets of instruments, one made by Antonio Stradivari and the other made by his teacher Nicoló Amati.
Purchase tickets here:
Saturday:https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/scms-axelrod-quartet-sat-1P0770
Sunday: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/scms-axelrod-quartet-sun-1P0773
Members $27; Nonmembers $35

Innovative Lives: Amy Prieto and Sunil Cherian
April 12, 2023, 4–5 pm
Note: This is a Free, Virtual On-line Program
Register at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovative-lives-amy-prieto-and-sunil-cherian-tickets-539574861937

Fort Collins, Colorado inventors and entrepreneurs Amy Prieto and Sunil Cherian will explore the role of “place,” including geography, resources, talent and community support, and how location can play a role in fostering invention and innovation. Both are featured in the Lemelson Center’s “Places of Invention" exhibition which is on view through late summer 2023. Prieto, founder and Chief Technology Officer of Prieto Battery and Cherian, founder and CEO of Spirae, have based their renewable energy companies in Fort Collins. A Prieto battery prototype is on view in the exhibition while audiences can learn more about Cherian’s work through an interactive video.

“Quartets of Haydn, Britten and Beethoven”
Stradivarius and Amati Saturday Concert Series, Smithsonian Chamber Music Society
Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music
April 29 & 30; 7:30 p.m.

The Axelrod String Quartet, Marc Destrubé, James Dunham, and Kenneth Slowik with guest violinist Joseph Puglia will present Haydn’s Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76, No. 2, "Fifths;" Britten’s Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 36; and Beethoven’s Quartet in F Major, Op. 135 performing on two magnificent sets of instruments, one made by Antonio Stradivari and the other made by his teacher Nicoló Amati.
Purchase tickets here:
Saturday: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/scms-axelrod-quartet-sat-1P0771
Sunday: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/scms-axelrod-quartet-sun-1P0774
Members $27; Nonmembers $35

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Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History seeks to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by examining, preserving and sharing the complexity of our past. The museum, located on Constitution Avenue N.W., between 12th and 14th streets, is open Friday through Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Admission is free and passes are not required. The doors of the museum are always open online and the virtual museum continues to expand its offerings, including online exhibitions, K–12 educational materials and programs. The public can follow the museum on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. For more information, go to https://americanhistory.si.edu. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.

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Amy Kehs is a brand strategist and communications expert for museums.